Amanda Knox and Lorena Bobbitt revealed they’ve become close friends after bonding over their respective cases ahead of a joint appearance at a true crime festival in Washington, D.C.
The duo appeared together as headliners in the "Death Becomes Us" event, where they opened up about how they were portrayed in the media at the time of their respective trials and the way in which they say they reclaimed their own stories since then.
“Lorena and I have a lot in common,” Knox told Fox 5 ahead of their panel. “I think the thing that resonates the most with me when we first spoke to each other over the phone is how this is, like, a historic moment in the history of shamed and vilified women. You don’t see shamed and vilified women coming forward supporting each other reclaiming narratives and calling into account all those forces that are turning us into characters that are morality plays, and exploiting our trauma for the sake of profit and entertainment.”
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Knox spent four years in an Italian prison after being charged with murdering her roommate. That conviction was overturned in 2011. Prior to her acquittal, she faced severe media scrutiny about her sex life and was dubbed “Foxy Knoxy” by the press.
Bobbitt, who now goes by her maiden name, Gallo, gained massive media attention after she cut off her husband’s penis in 1993 after claiming he raped her. Renewed interest and sympathy have been placed on her since a four-part documentary released on Amazon this year that highlighted the intense domestic abuse she said she endured prior to committing her crime and spending a month in a mental institution for it.
“I think that people could be surprised in many forms because... our narratives, obviously thanks to documentaries, we have basically reclaimed our narratives and now people know our story, know the truth, know what happened about our stories. So I think it’s very important to get that message across” Bobbitt told Fox 5.
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“I think that people expect people like us to crawl under a rock of our shame and die," Knox added.
The duo had a lot to say about the nature of true-crime reporting and the fandom that has emerged, arguing that humanity often gets lost in the intrigue surrounding cases like theirs.
“I think true crime does have this problem with this sort of sense of entitlement to other people’s trauma and a kind of gleeful armchair detective work that doesn't come with the gravitas of the situation,” Knox explained. “These are the worst experiences of real people’s lives. They’re not a punchline for a joke.”
“Basically that I am who I am," Bobbitt said when asked what she wants people to know about her. "I’m a mother, I’m an advocate, I’m an activist."
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"Yes, it was something tragic, coming from domestic abuse and sexual assault,” Bobbitt concluded. “I basically just want them to know who I am. I’m Lorena.”
The women’s conversation at the "Death Becomes Us" festival will be featured on Knox’s podcast, “The Truth About True Crime.”